(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device such as a semiconductor integrated circuit.
With remarkable development in ultra-miniaturization and high packing density of semiconductor devices such as LSI and VLSI, the dust-free and vibration-proof working environment is a very important factor for improvement in the manufacturing yield of semiconductor devices. Recently, a variety of measures have been taken for attaining the dust-free and vibration-proof working environment. However, it is not easy to always maintain the semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus at the optimum condition under such a specially designed working environment because maintenance of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is always accompanied by a variety of difficulties.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 schematically shows an etching apparatus and working environment thereof as an example of the conventional semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus. An etching apparatus is constituted by a working area 1 including the etching chamber, a vacuum pump 2 for evacuating gas within the working area 1, and a DC power supply 3 and a high frequency power supply 4 to supply the DC power and high frequency power to the working area 1, which are independently installed.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1, the working area 1 is provided with partition walls 7a and 7b to provide two separated chambers i.e., a maintenance region 8 and wafer treating region 9. The operation panel 5 and the wafer loading and unloading area 6 are provided in the wafer treating region 9, while the other accessory apparatus of etching apparatus are provided in the maintenance region 8. The wafer treating region 9 is a chamber called a clean room used for loading or unloading and transferring wafers. Therefore, a degree of cleanliness is kept higher than that of the maintenance region 8.
In this example, a vacuum pump 2, a DC power supply 3 and a high frequency power supply 4 are considered as the source of dust and vibration, and separated from the working area 1 and installed in the maintenance region 8. Accordingly, a degree of cleanliness of the wafer treating region 9 is kept high. In some cases, the vacuum pump 2, DC power supply 3 and high frequency power supply 4 are installed separately in another room.
As described previously, the water treating region 9 is never contaminated by dust generated in the maintenance region 8 during operation of the etching apparatus.
However, maintenance or repair of such etching apparatus as installed in the special environment as explained above results in following several problems.
When the operation panel 5 is operated in the wafer treating region 9 or when it is requested to watch the inside of working area 1 and to watch the condition of vacuum pump 2, DC power supply 3 or high frequency power supply 4 in processing the semiconductor device, a maintenance engineer 11 who is operating the operation panel 5 must request cooperation of the maintenance engineer 10 watching the respective apparatus in the maintenance region 8 and therefore at least two persons are required.
In case the vacuum pump 2, DC power supply 3 or high frequency power supply 4 are installed in the room other than that wherein the working area 1 is provided, the maintenance engineers 10 and 11 are requested to make conversation through the telephone or transceiver.
In the case of watching the transitional stages in each process to be sequentially conducted by the semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, fine adjustment of operation such as start and stop of the semiconductor device fabrication apparatus is sometimes conducted. In this case, a maintenance engineer 10 conducts such adjustments while issuing instructions to another maintenance engineer 11. However, difference is generated between instruction for operation and actual operation timing and deviation in operations are inevitable and thereby it becomes difficult to conduct the maintenance work considered.
If a maintenance engineer conducts the maintenance work only by himself, the partition walls 7a, 7b are partially opened and he must go and come back between the wafer treating region 9 wherein the operation panel 5 is installed and the maintenance area 8 wherein the each apparatus is installed. As a result, the wafer treating region 9 is naturally contaminated by dust.
In the case of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus such as a stepper, the working area 1 of apparatus is set in a constant temperature chamber in order to prevent expansion and contraction of an apparatus due to temperature change. The operation panel is separated from the working area so that the temperature controlling condition is never broken, even when the chamber is opened for operation.
Moreover, the manual operation panel of the operating panel 5 is sometimes provided independently for the centralized control of the conditions of the semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus.
In any case, however, the apparatus is connected to the manual operating panel at the predetermined one area. Therefore, the maintenance work for the semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus has always been accompanied by difficulty as mentioned above.
Namely, the maintenance work for the semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus installed in the specially designed environment has usually resulted various problems. For example, working flexibility is bad, work efficiency is also bad and the wafer treating area is contaminated by dust.